Drinking and driving, a reminder you never want to be in.

[Mainia]

I have a daughter who is driving age (26) and doesn't drink or do drugs after a hard hit of both at 15 and choose to change. I came upon this video and thought of the one and last time when I was 19 when I did not remember driving home. That could of been me or a family member hearing those God awful words coming from the police officer. For some reason it happen to hit me, watching this video.

 

[slo town]

Tragic. My 78 year old aunt was killed by a drunk driver. Head on left front to left front collision with a driver who swerved out of the oncoming lane. Literally crushed her and killed her instantly.

Scott

 

[Pew]

I have absolutely zero remorse for drunk drivers. Neighbor's wife was killed by one some 20 years ago and left him as a single father. 10 years ago a buddy in my unit was killed in a head-on collision by a DUI driver going wrong way down a highway.

There's no such thing as an accident when it comes to duis. Everybody knows the law to not drive under the influence. Everybody made a decision. Take away their privilege to drive forever.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Now you know why I have been sober for 38 years. I am lucky to have been in jail only 4 timesduring my drinking career.

 

[97prizm]

Now you know why I have been sober for 38 years. I am lucky to have been in jail only 4 timesduring my drinking career.

At least you knew to stop. That takes guts. Many don't.

 

[Zaedock]

Don’t forget weed.

I almost took a T-bone leaving the gym last week. Started my left turn at a 4 way stop and a 1 ton crew cab work truck blew through the intersection at 40+ MPH without stopping. Would have probably hurt me and the wife pretty bad. All you could smell was dope.

 

[JeffKeryk]

At least you knew to stop. That takes guts. Many don't.

Thanks for the kind words...
Let's just say Police Officers and Judges helped me understand. Jails. Fear. Homelessness. Being broke all the time. Broken teeth.
I take no credit for my sobriety; it's a gift. That's my experience.

 

[dogememe]

Just recently here in Napa a mom DUI crashed killing a kid. Sad stuff. Not OK!

 

[dnewton3]

I have been on the giving end of those conversations; it's not fun. 25 years of LEO and you see plenty of it, unfortunately.
The only thing that is worse is having to notify the family of the deceased; man, that sucks.

Catching and processing a DUI (OWI, DWI, ...) often feels, well, good. Not a greedy kind of mood, but a satisfying sense of serving public safety. Any decent cop won't celebrate an arrest like this as much as he/she celebrates a life saved somewhere. But when you have to arrest someone in the hospital because they took a life/lives, it really feels like a hollow victory.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I have been on the giving end of those conversations; it's not fun. 25 years of LEO and you see plenty of it, unfortunately.
The only thing that is worse is having to notify the family of the deceased; man, that sucks.

Catching and processing a DUI (OWI, DWI, ...) often feels, well, good. Not a greedy kind of mood, but a satisfying sense of serving public safety. Any decent cop won't celebrate an arrest like this as much as he/she celebrates a life saved somewhere. But when you have to arrest someone in the hospital because they took a life/lives, it really feels like a hollow victory.

I've been arrested 3 times for DUI. Every time I knew I had one person to blame. Of course I hated it and knew I was in a lot of trouble, but I knew it was better to be in the back of the car than to have hurt someone. Those cops stopped what could have been a disaster. I am more than grateful for that.

One could argue that those doing joint time for hurting someone might be doing my time. That's my bottom line.

 

[walterjay]

When I was a teenager I spent too much time riding with drunk buddies.

One night we were racing down a long steep hill in a Ford Falcon. We hit 100. At the hills end there was a steep curve. We lost traction and went into a spin at close to 100. No seat belts and we were plastered against the doors by centrifucal force. We spun straight into on coming lanes and fortunately it was late and no other traffic. We spun up an embankment and wound up on a horse farm. We all got out and were literally speechless and stone cold sober from adrenaline.

I can't believe those doors held and we didn't roll. It clearly was not our time. I do believe in divine intervention and we had it that night.

Never did that again and I no longer touch alcohol run with those who do.

 

[Mainia]

I have been on the giving end of those conversations; it's not fun. 25 years of LEO and you see plenty of it, unfortunately.
The only thing that is worse is having to notify the family of the deceased; man, that sucks.

Catching and processing a DUI (OWI, DWI, ...) often feels, well, good. Not a greedy kind of mood, but a satisfying sense of serving public safety. Any decent cop won't celebrate an arrest like this as much as he/she celebrates a life saved somewhere. But when you have to arrest someone in the hospital because they took a life/lives, it really feels like a hollow victory.

By brother in law is a retire lieutenant PD, when he was a beat cop, I was along with a ride along and we caught a VERY high %( don't remember %) DWI. To the point of the 2 other cops that showed up said this guy should be dead, and one officer said I have not seen one that high yet. 5 years on the force. Good to see him off the road.

 

[spasm3]

I feel compassion for those addicted to alcohol , and the circumstances that lead to it. But i don't feel sorry or compassion when they get behind the wheel. Penalties are not stiff enough. Second offense, the car should be taken and auctioned off, plus 3 months of jail to dry out. Proceeds to victims.

Too many people out and free after 3 or more DWI. Start taking the vehicles.

 

[JTK]

An older co-worker of mine has not been able to work again after being rear-ended at a high rate of speed by a drunk driver with bare minimum insurance and no money/assets. This happened 3-4yrs ago and he's still fighting the legal aspects of it and suffering severe neck/back injury. We all make mistakes. This one is just too avoidable for me to have sympathy for those who do choose to drive impaired.

 

[ripcord]

I've lost multiple relatives from severe alcohol addiction. We just lost one cousin's son to a motorcycle crash 2 years ago. A drunken argument followed by a bike crashed into a parked truck.

 

[4WD]

Don’t forget weed.

I almost took a T-bone leaving the gym last week. Started my left turn at a 4 way stop and a 1 ton crew cab work truck blew through the intersection at 40+ MPH without stopping. Would have probably hurt me and the wife pretty bad. All you could smell was dope.

Yeah, I’m avoiding LH turns like a plague - thought a woman was having a seizure coming towards me in a Yukon - at the last second she jerks the purse (she was digging in) into her lap - and the bent neck and wobbling was her holding the cell phone that way … nothing could have been steering but a knee

 

[slo town]

Thanks for the kind words...
Let's just say Police Officers and Judges helped me understand. Jails. Fear. Homelessness. Being broke all the time. Broken teeth.
I take no credit for my sobriety; it's a gift. That's my experience.

Jesus, @JeffKeryk! You’re one of the very few who hit those depths but had the motivation, support, and luck (?) to fix yourself. Given your life experience you ought to consider some public speaking in the subject. You have quite a story to tell.

Scott

 

[shortyb]

I have been on the giving end of those conversations; it's not fun. 25 years of LEO and you see plenty of it, unfortunately.
The only thing that is worse is having to notify the family of the deceased; man, that sucks.

Catching and processing a DUI (OWI, DWI, ...) often feels, well, good. Not a greedy kind of mood, but a satisfying sense of serving public safety. Any decent cop won't celebrate an arrest like this as much as he/she celebrates a life saved somewhere. But when you have to arrest someone in the hospital because they took a life/lives, it really feels like a hollow victory.

Same. Still trying to forget, or at least put a lot of it behind me. Don't think it will ever happen.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Jesus, @JeffKeryk! You’re one of the very few who hit those depths but had the motivation, support, and luck (?) to fix yourself. Given your life experience you ought to consider some public speaking in the subject. You have quite a story to tell.

Scott

Scott, talking only helps those who are ready to listen. Don't ask me how I know. There's a saying, "God's office is at the end of your rope."

Sobriety is my most cherished possession; everything stems from it. I am one of the lucky ones.

 

[y_p_w]

I went out drinking alcohol a few times in the past few weeks. One place was a little bit difficult to get back other than by personal vehicle, so I factored in a few hours waiting there a couple of hours before driving. But I've actually ridden the bus home after having a beer or two. Once I left my car parked on a public street and I came back for it the next day (also by bus). Another time I got there and back by bus in the same day. I get that some think it's embarrassing not to be able to "hold your alcohol" or that not being able to drive home is some big shame. There are quite a few police bodycam videos where someone is clearly showing signs of impairment but are insistent that they need to drive home themselves rather than getting a ride and coming back for their car in the morning.

I've looked up weight tables, and I think two pints of 5% beer and I'm still under 0.08% BAC. But even then I don't feel like I should get in a car and drive. I have seen a few of these things at bars, although I'm not sure how accurate they are.

Beside that, alcohol is much cheaper at home than at a bar. And I'm not likely to be pulled over by police at home.

My father is really paranoid. He claims that he can smell alcohol on me the next morning, and that somehow that's going to affect the possibility of getting arrested for DUI. Granted I've had absolutely no alcohol for over a week and he's made that claim, so he thinks his nose is better than it is.